Authorities in Guyana will now have to determine how a suitcase containing 40 lbs of cocaine in Kerry Gold milk packets slipped through the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri earlier this month and was later intercepted at the John F Kennedy Airport in New York..
A Guyanese woman has since been arrested in New York and according to authorities in the US the woman said she was expected to receive payment for checking-in the suitcase with some 18,428.2 grammes of cocaine.
According to court documents seen by this newspaper, on June 2 Chandinee Segobind arrived at the JFK airport on Delta Airlines Flight 384 from Georgetown, Guyana.
A black ‘Hays’ suitcase with a baggage tag in her name arrived on the same flight but was not retrieved by her. Once the bag was not claimed it was taken to custom officers for inspection and they discovered some 18 powdered milk packages.
“The contents of these packages field tested positive for cocaine. In total, there was approximately 18,428.2 grams of cocaine recovered from the above-described Kerry Gold powdered milk packages in the Hays bag,” court documents said.
On June 8, investigators went to a residence on 82nd Street in Queens, New York where Segobind resides and they identified themselves and informed her that they were looking for her.
“The defendant agreed to speak with investigators. During the subsequent interview, the defendant stated, in sum and substance, ‘I checked in the bag. I knew that there were drugs in the bag. I was supposed to get paid for doing this’”, authorities said. Segobind was then arrested and charged and she has since been remanded to prison.
This latest interception comes following the 50-pound cocaine bust on January 12. The cocaine had been packed in a pink suitcase. Dorothy Sears had checked the suitcase in at the airport but she was arrested in New York on arrival there. Sears had admitted that she had checked-in the pink suitcase and stated that she had been instructed by an individual in Guyana not to pick up the bag.
Four persons, Maurice Smith, a police dog handler, Rodrick Peterkin, an employee with Roraima Airways, along with Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) employees Muniram Persaud and Shemika Tennant, were charged with conspiracy on March 11 in relation to the case.
Since then recriminations have gone back and forth over the reasons why charges were preferred against them.
